Starship Strike Complete

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Version 2.02 August 20101. INTRODUCTION

These rules are designed for a player to control many capital ships in a major fleet action.They are designed to allow players to refight the huge space battles of the Exterminator War.[See www.theuniverse.org.uk for much more detail]

There are a couple of other sets of Universe-based rules already in existence.- HELLFIRE, which allows players to control a single ship in considerable detail.

- Big Burn is for small fleet actions with a degree of detail as to what damage is done.

This set of rules are another step in the abstraction process, designed to make a battleplayable in an hour or less, and several battles in a campaign context practical in an evening.The basic rules concept is a direct steal from the excellent WRG game 'Seastrike' publishedin, I think 1974. Seastrike was an innovative system for its time and well worth a look if itturns up on Ebay.

Inevitably, that original system has mutated somewhat in its conversion to the Universe, andthis system is an attempt to reflect the doctrine and practice of 300+ years of space combatin the Universe.

Space battles in the Universe generally take place in the orbital space around a colony world.Combat is generally not 'to the death', and fleets will usually withdraw if overmatched.Combat is also very greatly influenced by political constraints and the consequent rules ofengagement. Similarly, the loss of a capital ship is a major economic loss as it takes a yearand a half to build a replacement, and it has significant credit value. (See the Macro Rules forthe Humanity Will Prevail Campaign). Captains and admirals are schooled with theprevailing ethos which is that if an enemy ship breaks off combat you let it go (after all, itmight be you next time).

Much of this was challenged during the Exterminator War where the enemy was an

implacable machine intelligence so when fighting Exterminators the loss of ships isexpected. However, that specific threat has now receded.

2. TIME AND DISTANCE

The game is played on an open playing area, ideally around 2.4m (approx 8' long). Thedetail of manoeuvre is not very critical to battle outcomes.

Measurements are on a scale of 1cm = 2.5 kilometres.

If it helps, think of each turn around 7 or 8 minutes or so. (but dont quote me on that!).

Planets are not normally shown on the table, as they are a bit big. (about 48 metres across ingame scale)

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Note that space is big. The distance between the Earth and the Sun (a distance known as anAstronomical Unit, approx 160 million kilometres) would be a distance of64 kilometres onthe table top

3. APPROACH AND THE BATTLESPACE

Ships move between planets in a system using their main thrusters this will usually propel a

ship with accelerations of between 1 and 2 gravities (1 gravity = 10 metres per second persecond). This allows the ships to make interplanetary journeys in a matter of days. Thefusion-powered thrusters also emit a vast plume of exhaust plasma known as its 'burn'.capital ships and large merchants the largest class of ship create 'Big Burns' wheneverthey move in-system which are easily detectable at very long ranges when they are days oreven weeks away.

However, at these very long ranges, one big burn is very like another so whilst you mayknow how many big ships are coming, you may not know at this stage what class they are.The burn size of each ship is shown in the ship stats table at the end of the rules.

As the fleets close, so they enter the range of navigational radar (about 100,000km or a fewhours apart). At this point it is possible to distinguish between merchant ships and warships.

At about 5,000km, tactical radar is available. This allows you to distinguish ship classes, sothe entire enemy force is shown.

Once within about 1,000 km weapon radars are active. At this distance, if available, CombatSpace Patrol pacifiers will usually be deployed. The 1,000km range is known as theBattlespace.

Once within Battlespace, it is assumed that combat will ensue.

So, if you want to model the approach process, follow these steps:

Each side writes down the number and size of burns in their fleet and passes it to theother side. At this point either side can choose to break off and there is no combat. Ifnot then close to Navigation radar range.

At Nav radar range, military ships are distinguished from civilian. Either side can stillbreak off. If not then close to tactical radar range.

At Tactical radar range ship types are identified though state of repair, numbers of

pacifiers carried etc is not revealed. Still time to back out.

In the Battlespace, everyone is assumed to be prepared for combat operations.

There is then an unfolding deployment stage this might be done using a map until somepart of the opposing fleets reach pacifier strike range of 500 kilometres (200 cm) of an enemyship

Note down how far from the units in range each element is some of these may not fit on thegame table and their relative location may have to be noted down separately until they getwithin range of someone.

Units equipped with pacifiers may choose to have them pre-deployed on Combat SpacePatrol before reaching the 200cm (500km) point.



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These are placed on the table during initial deployment before the battle.

The battle can then start, and the normal game sequence starts (below).

4. SEQUENCE OF PLAY

The sequence is simultaneous movement and firing.

Cut the card pack to determine the order of play in each Turn. SYSTEM FAILUREautomatically goes last.

1. Players write movement orders.

2. Players move all units

3. Both sides can deploy Combat Space Patrol (CSP) Pacifiers.

4. Both sides secretly note weapon options for the pacifier flights un-launched or re-arming. Once set this may not be changed in the Turn.

5. Target Allocation Sequence. Starting with the player who won the cut each playerplaces one targeting counter in turn until all possible placements have been made.Once placed a targeting counter may not be moved.

6. Resolve Combat and note damage etc. This can be done in any order as all damageis simultaneous. Remove targeting counter as the damage from that attack isresolved. Where there are multiple attacks on a single target, the results areconducted in sequence one after the other in any order the attacker chooses.

7. Take Morale tests as necessary

8. Conduct damage control

9. Shuffle card pack.

5. SHIP RECORD & COUNTERS

Each ship has all its statistics recorded on the unit counter which looks something like this:

Note that the Centre Point represents the location of the ship and is the point from whichranges are measured.There are usually a number of other useful counters in play, to help keep track of some of thecomplexity particularly of the carrier/pacifier battle.



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Targeting Counter. The firing ship ID is written in the centre, and it isplaced on a target ship to indicate firing.

Pacifier flight counter. During the re-arming turn, players may choosewhether it will be in Strike role, Missile role and if the in the missile rolewhether it is to have nuclear-tipped missiles (tick boxes).Once the role has been set it cannot be changed until the next re-armingphase.

Once used in a turn, the counter is flipped over and the reverse shows RE-ARMING

Used when marines are used in an attack on a ship these help

represent how many marine groups are deployed in a combat.

7. MOVEMENT

The movement rules are NOT strictly Newtonian. The assumption is that you use power toalter relative positions mainly and that ships aim to stay in combat and in range the moreagile ships can chose to close the range or widen it more easily.It is also easier for players to operate the system.

For each Thruster (= Delta-V Agility) on the ship counter, the ship can move up to 8 cm (20km).

Movement OrdersAs movement is simultaneous,players will write secret orders for each ship each turn. At thestart of each game designate a direction of notional 'North'. Thereafter movement is writtenin the format: 8 cm Southeast or 16 cm South etc.

These orders can only be written if the ship has a functioning C3 centre.

Spacing.Ships need a certain amount of clear space around them to manage communications clutter,pacifier launch and recovery, missile deployment, chaff and flare launches and safemanoeuvre.

There is therefore a minimum safe distance that is normally maintained between ships. Thisis represented by the ship counter. So to keep it simple ship counters may not beoverlapped.

Friendly ships overlapping their counters are deemed to be crowded. The effect of this is tomake all direct firing one range band worse and no missile fire or pacifier launching is

permitted.



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Ramming: A ship may order a ram on another ship. If the ram is unopposed then it isautomatic. If the target wishes to avoid the ram, each side draws a card for each Delta-V ithas the side with the highest single card wins ( SYSTEM FAILURE = 0). If the rammer wins

it means a successful ram. A draw means the rammer has missed.

If it is a successful ram, then both take one Hull hit per thruster of the ramming unit.

Draw a card to see if the ships are entangled Draw Seven or higher and they are andcannot manoeuvre or fire in subsequent turns. Ships cannot be disentangled within theperiod of a normal battle it takes hours of cutting.

Any incoming fire on the entangled ships might hit either ship draw for it.

If not entangledeither ship may pull off next turn.

A missed ram just leaves both ships adjacent.

8. BREAK-OFF RULE

In a normal human vs human combat a ship can chose to 'break off' in its firing phase. Thistakes up a 'shot' for that fleet. In order to successfully break off the ship must:

Not be fighting a boarding action. Not have taken damage last turn Not be within 20cm (50km) of an enemy ship Have at least one intact C3 centre

Ships that break off will be expected to leave the system as quickly a possible.

This rule does not apply in Exterminator vs Human battles.

9. COMBAT RESOLUTION

This uses at least one pack of Results Cards cards. Multiple packs are sometimes helpful.All fire effects are simultaneous.

In some cases additional SYSTEM FAILURE (or other cards ) may be inserted in the pack to

represent serviceability standards or logistic shortcomings.

a. Basic Method for Direct FiringDirect fire weapons such as PAD, HELL and Cannon always draw one Results Card perweapon firing

Weapon PAD HELL CANNONUp to Up to Up to

Effective Range 16 cm 8 Cm 8 cm

Long Range 32 cm 16 cm -

Results Cards should be drawn in turn. If a SYSTEM FAILURE is turned up it represents asystem error - all of that type of system being used on that ship has failed for the rest of thatturn and no further cards are drawn for that system.



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EXAMPLE RESULTS CARD

This means take a hit on Armour if no armour take a hiton thrusters if no thrusters take a hit on Hull.

This is the Card Value used when players draw a cardfor value

b. Basic Method for MissilesMissiles have a range of 40cm (100km)

Point Defences can be fired more than once each per turn. They fire in defence on allincoming attacks.

If the number of missiles fired on the target are exceed by the number of active PointDefences firing in defence of the target, then no missiles get through.

If the number of missile launchers firing is more than triple the point defences firing indefence then the defences are swamped and half of the attacking missiles automaticallycount.If there is no point defence whatever, then allthe missiles get through.

Otherwise, draw a Results Card for each defending pointdefence factor.

LOOK HERE for whether, and how many incomingmissiles are shot down by the point defence factor

For each missile factor that gets through, draw aresults card for damage.



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c. AmmunitionShip-mounted PAD, HELL, CANNON and PD never run out of ammo.Each ship-mounted missile launcher has six missiles so a ship can fire 6 times beforereloading.Reloading missile racks requires the ship to not be moving or firing for 5 turns.

d. Damage Control.Any system can be repaired. Ship hull, Marines, shotdown pacifiers and armour cannot be repaired.

Draw one Results card card per damage control factorand look here for the result

10. PACIFIER MOVEMENT & COMBAT

We do not move pacifier units about the map they are treated as a weapon system andfired at targets.

Pacifiers do have separate counters, but this isto show how they are being used they are notto be treated as separate units.

One-shot pacifiers (OSP) are less capablethan carrier launched because they represent

fewer pacifiers. If an OSP is used and cannotbe recovered by a carrier, it is removed fromplay (hence 'one shot').OSP represent 2 pacifiers normally, and can be used to pair up to replace a lost full strengthpacifier flight of 4 operating from a carrier.As the name suggests, OSP are removed from play once they have been used in actionunless there is an open carrier slot they can return to for rearming/refuelling.

Pacifier actions can only be made every other turn so a pacifier flight counter is eitherACTIVE orREARMING.

Ideally we use double-sided counters for this that they can be flipped over.



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Pacifiers are used as a weapon system in one of three ways: See also the PacifierOperations Chart at Annex B

a. Combat Space Patrol (CSP)Intended to defend against other pacifiers. If CSP is allocated it can be applied to any shipwithin 40cm (100km) of the owning ship.

If attacked, CSP is used up. If not attacked the CSP remains in place until recalled (thismight be multiple moves). OSP can also remain on station until used.

When under attack, and before discovering the Attackers Strike Option (see below), thedefender allocates CSP Pacs to one of two Postures:

CSP: Intercept Posture: The CSP pacifiers go out to meet the incoming pacifiers as far aspossible from the ships they are protecting.

This is best against Missile Attack Pacifiers. This option is not available forattacks originating closer than 40cm (100km) to the target.

[Place the Pacifier Counter in front of the units being defended.]

Defending CSP draws a Results Card:

Look here to find out how manyintercepts of enemy Missile Attackunits there have .

Don't forget that there is a different result if theinterceptors are one shot pacifiers (OSP)

CSP: Close-In Posture: The CSP Pacifiers wait until the attackers have converged on thetarget and are more concentrated.

This is has no effect against Missile Attack Pacifiers, but has a higher intercept chanceoverall and is more effective against Strike Pacifiers.

[Place the Pacifier Counter on the ship counter being defended].

Defending CSP draws a Results Card:



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Look here to find out how many intercepts of enemyHELL Strike units there have been.

If there is a Successful Intercept (of either Close-in or Intercept CSP), draw a ResultsCard for each successful intercept

Look here to find out whether the intercepted target hasbeen shot down, driven off, or gets through.

Where there are more intercepts than incoming units,then this means that an incoming unit can be draw

against more than once.



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b. Pacifier Point Defence (PPD)

Used very close in to defend against incoming missiles. It is notavailable to Pacifiers in Missile Attack role.

The pacifiers can be allocated to a single specific ship only within 100kmof owning ship place a counter to indicate.

Can only be used once per turn. Each pacifier unit on PPD counts asTWO extra PD for the defending ship (one for a one shot pacifier).

If attacked by missiles, the PPD is used up. If not attacked the PPD remainsin place until recalled (this might be multiple moves). OSP can also remain on station untilused.

c. Pacifier Strike (Strike) to reach out and hit enemy ships.There are two Pacifier Strike Options: Pacifier strikes are at anything with 200cm (500km).

Option 1: Missile Attack Pacifiers: Each Pacifier factor counts as 4 Missilefactors (or 2 if one shot pacifier)If the target is defended by Intercept CSPthen run through that processOnly units that pass through the intercept process can launch missiles.Calculate effects of any missiles launched as if it were a missile attack (see 9b above).

Option 2 : HELL Strike Pacifiers: Pacifiers armed with HELL. Can beintercepted by eitherIntercept CSPorClose-In CSP. If it gets through thendraw 4 Results cards (2 if one shot pacifier) per strike and refer to the damageresults as in 9a.

Option 3 : Space Superiority : This is designed to attack enemy CSP interceptposture pacifiers that might be blocking an attack. Assume an automaticintercept by both parties, then apply the successful interceptrule in 10c. above.

The option chosen must apply to the entire attack from a given ship, and is selected duringthe 're-arming' time, or the turn prior to the turn of launch. In the event that it is not madeclear, the DEFAULT option is Option 2 : HELL Strike.



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d. Defensive Anti-Pacifier Fire

If under attack by Option 2 : Strike Pacifiers, thedefending ship can use HELL and Cannon in selfdefence (whether or not they have already firedoffensively in that round).

Only the defending ship can react in this way nearbyships cannot get involved.This fire is simultaneous with the Strike attack so itcannot prevent incoming damage, merely punish theattackers.

Draw a Results card per defending system and look hereto see if the enemy unit has been shot down (HIT)

e. Multiple Pacifier Launches

There is a class of ship known as the Multiple Pacifier Ship (MPS) or Swarm ship that is aship carrying a large number of single shot pacifiers factors

When calculating the effect of its pacifiers, they are worked out in 'waves' of 4 pacifier factorsat a time.

Multiple waves can be launched in the same attack, but their effect is not simultaneous ineffect they are counted as second, third (and so on) shots of 4 factors at a time.This reflects the difficulty of coordinating very large numbers of pacifiers against a target.

This rule also applies to any carrier-type vessel with more than 4 pacifier flights embarked.

11. FLEET MORALE

It may be that whilst the Admiral (i.e. the player) might be a glassy-eyed fanatic happy to fight

to the death, the individual ship captains, crew and senior staff officers might have otherviews This test applies to the fleet as a whole. Where multiple nationalities are involved,each national contingent counts as a separate fleet. With a very large fleet you might splitthe fleet up into squadrons each of which is then treated as an 'allied fleet'. Typically asquadron would be not less that 6 ships.

When the following conditions apply or change, roll 1d6 for Fleet Morale.

Any military ship is lost from your fleet

A Capital ship is lost from an allied fleet (CA, BB, CV or equivalent)

No ship of your fleet has any offensive weapons available.

An Allied Fleet's morale breaks



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-1 foreach military ship lost from fleet so far-1 if there is any enemy capital ship within 8cm of any member of your fleet-1 if ship morale is Failing already-1 if outnumbered by enemy capital ships(BB, CV or CA)

-1 if a Centauri Contracted Fleet-1 if entirely Star Guard-2 if civilian / pirate+1 if a Martian Fleet+4 if fighting Exterminators

Results:

Score 7+"Fight on, and Damn the Heavy Missiles!"Fleet morale is excellent, keep going. Failing fleet morale recovers.

Score 5-6Steady Boys Steady Fleet morale steady, continue fighting. If morale was failing before itcontinues to be 'failing'.

Score 3 - 4This is getting tricky sir. No unit may close the range with the enemy, no marine assaults.If morale was failing before it continues to be 'failing'.

Score -1 to 2"Erwe're not at all sure about this, Sir" : Fleet morale is Failing. No unit may close therange with the enemy, no marine assaults. Any unit with less than 50% hull remaining willattempt to break off if it can.

Score


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Work out combat odds

If outnumbered 2-1 the superior draws 2 cards, the inferior 1If outnumbered 3-1, the superior draws 3 cards, the inferior 1and so on.

The highest value card wins the side with multiple cards play the highest drawn.

Loser loses 1 marine factor. If no marine factors left, the ship is taken (or attacker beatenoff).

Draw means indecisive combat for that round.

Repeat the process until a result is achieved. Boarding actions are always completed with aturn.

If a ship is captured it ceases to take any part in operations.

Whilst it is possible to put a prize crew aboard and fly the ship off this takes someconsiderable time to organise, so it outside the normal scope of this game.

The winning player notes how many marine factors remain to hold the prize. Redeploymentback to the launching ship takes place during movement (within 4cm / 10km for normalshuttles, 200cm / 500 km for Assault Shuttles).

It is not allowed to recover units and launch a marine assault in the same turn.

13. NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Nuclear WeaponsThese are delivered by missile (either ship or pacifier-launched). Warheads must be defined

by the scenario and once a volley is armed with nukes it cannot be changed.

It would be unusual for a ship to have enough nukes to arm its entire missilestock typically around 6-12 warheads per capital ship. In game terms thismeans that a carrier can make 3 fully nuclear-armed missile armed pacifier flightattacks.

During the Exterminator War, this was doubled in most navies.These have to penetrate the targets defences to be of any use.

Damage from Nuclear Detonation

Direct Hit target annihilated

Near Miss Target and any other units within 4cm (i.e. immediately adjacent) take 20damage results cards

All within 20cm / 50km 5 damage results cardsAll within 80cm / 200km 2 damage results cards

Electromagnetic PulseIf the detonation is within the magnetosphere of a planet with a magnetic field, the detonation

will cause an EMP effect for all vessels with 40cm / 100km for 10 turns.

EMP effects:



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No communications

No PAD, HELL or missile fire

14. FIGHTING OUTSIDE THE M25

There are rare occasions when battles are fought outside the M25. In these circumstances,the HSD can be used to complete instant microjumps.

These are not very accurate over short distances (i.e. the area of a typical battle).To make a microjump the HSD must be functioning.

The commander indicates the target point.

This may not be less than 80 cm / 200km from the current location but can otherwise be anypoint on the playing area.

Draw a card for accuracy

Score Result13 Ship exits Hyperspace in the indicated point.

2 12 Misses target point, , and face value x 5 cm for how far in that direction1 Ship exits at a point a long way off the map and will have to microjump back on

to the map on a following turn.

15. STEALTH DETECTION

All ships with weapon systems have combat radar that detects other ships and incomingmissiles and pacifiers out to 5,000 km whether burning or not.

There are other, less sensitive navigational radars that function out to about 100,000km.Ships burning (i.e. moving at all), are detectable over distances expressed in billions ofkilometres.

The bigger the burn the further away they can be spotted usually days away.

Certain alien and Forerunner ships use gravitic drives which do notburn and have low radar reflection signatures and are therefore notso easily detected.

These are described as Stealth Targets.

For each approaching Stealth Target, draw a card for the distance at which it is detected the face value is the detection range x 500 km

This card is not shown to the detecting player. Ideally the umpire keeps this secret until theappropriate moment.



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15. SERVICABILITY RATING

The SYSTEM FAILURE Results Card has a specific role in the pack to

show ..er.. system failures.

If drawn in a run of card draws it represents something going wrong and

you should stop drawing in the case of a pacifier attack, for example, itmight mean the communications system has gone down.

We can add in extra SYSTEM FAILURE cards per deck of results cards

to reflect national serviceability and operational readiness levels.

Status

SYSTEM FAILURE per standard

deckExpertCrew

StandardCrew

Semi-Automatic ship

Fresh,


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ANNEX A : Ship Statistics

Factors on the Unit Counter

Ship Type

PAD HELL Cannon MissilePoint

Defence

PacLaunchsystem

Assaultshuttlesystem

HullDamage(Armour)

Thrusters

(burnsize)

DamageControl

C3centres

MarineFactors

Battleship 4 4 2 4 5 (1) - 15 (+5) 2 (big) 3 2 3Heavy Battleship 6 3 2 3 6 0 - 24 (+8) 2 (v big) 4 2 4Missile Battleship 2 1 10 (1) 5 15 (+5) 2 (big) 3 2 3Carrier 1 1 1 1 3 4 - 6 (+3) 2 (big) 3 2 3Battle Carrier 1 2 2 0 5 8 1 12 (+4) 2 (v big) 3 2 6Heavy Cruiser 2 3 1 2 3 (1) - 10 (+3) 3 (med) 2 2 3Missile Cruiser 2 1 1 4 3 (1) - 10 (+3) 3 (med) 2 2 3Light Cruiser 1 2 1 1 2 - - 6 3 (med) 2 1 1Destroyer - 2 - - 2 - - 4 4 (small) 1 1 1Scout Ship - 1 - - 3 - - 4 4 (small) 1 1 1Assault Landing Ship - 1 - - 2 - 2 4 2 (big) 0 1 3Assault Carrier - 1 - - 2 1 - 4 2 (big) 0 1 1Transport - - 1 - 1 - - 4 2 (big) 0 1 1Hospital Ship - - - - 1 - - 4 2 (big) 1 1 1Logs Ship - - 1 - 1 - - 6 2 (big) 0 1 1Marine Assault Ship - - 2 - 2 - 3 4 2 (big) 0 1 9Support Carrier - - 1 - 1 1 - 6 2 (big) 0 1 1Multiple Pacifier Ship - - - - 2 (18) - 2 2 (big) 0 1 0Merchant Multiple Pacifier Ship - - - - 1 (10) - 2 2 (big) 0 1 0

Escort Carrier - - 1 - 1 (1) - 3 2 (big) 0 1 1Heavy Armed Merchant (AMI) - 2 1 - 3 - - 6 2 (big) 1 1 1Armed Merchant C1A - - - - 1 - - 1 2 (tiny) 0 1 0Armed Merchant C1AS - - - - - (1) - 1 2 (tiny) 0 1 0Armed Merchant C2A - - - - 1 - - 1 2 (small) 0 1 0Armed Merchant C3A - - - - 1 - - 2 2 (small) 0 1 0Armed Merchant C4A - - 1 - 1 - - 2 2 (med) 0 1 1Armed Merchant C5A - 1 - - 1 - - 2 2 (big) 0 1 1Merchant C5 - - - - - - - 2 2 (big) 0 1 0Survey Ship - 1 - - 3 - 1 6 2 (big) 2 1 3


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Ship Type

PAD HELL Cannon MissilePoint

Defence

PacLaunchsystem

Assaultshuttlesystem

HullDamage(Armour)

Thrusters

(burnsize)

DamageControl

C3centres

MarineFactors

Exterminator Super Battleship 24 24 9 - 9 12 2 90 (+0)4 (very

big)12 6 6

Exterminator VIKING 4 4 1 - 2 (4) - 12 4 2 1 1

Creating New Counters:The basic factors are:1 PAD = 1 Pad factor2 HELL = 1 HELL factor2 Cannon = 1 cannon factor4 pacifiers = 1 pacifier factor2 multi cannon / flares = 1 PD system


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HUMANITY

WILL

PREVAIL!The Universe Campaign Rules

VERSION 4.00 Jim Wallman 2012


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Humanity Will Prevail Main Rules v4.00

Humanity Will Prevail!Version 4.00 April 2012

Contents

Introduction 3

1. Players Responsibilities 32. Key Assumptions 43. Game Communications 44. Timing and Communication 45. Activities 56. Movement, Deployment & Scouting 67. Interstellar Economics 7

Background 7Support Value (SV) 7The Economic Categories 8

8. The Shopping List 89. Ship Building Capacity 13

General 13Mothballs 13Decommissioning 13Using Repair Yards 14Conversion 14Flatpacking 14

Civilian Shipyards 1410. Interstellar Banking 1511. Colony Status Test 1612. Insufficient SV 1713. Membership of Polities 1714. Key Personnel 1815. Ground Force Units 1916. Starships & Spaceships 20

Definitions 20Breakdown 20Detection 20

Logistics Support 21Self-Sustaining Fleets 22Refuelling time 22

17. Space Combat 2318. Ship Repair and Maintenance 24

Repair 24Class Upgrades/Changes 24

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INTRODUCTION

These rules are an on-going development designed to help us run theHumanity Will Prevail campaign. This is set in a future universelargely dominated by mankind and features political, military andeconomic interactions between a collection of human polities. The

game is set at governmental level and players are generally heads ofstate, senior cabinet members or top military.

The game is played mostly by email, with the occasional interactionface-to-face (for example at major summit meetings), and theoccasional wargaming session to fight significant military actions. Thegeneral background is also used frequently for one-off sub-gameswhich add to the growing background story.

The main campaign has been running since 1996, so there is a wealthof background information and history generated by events in the

game itself.

Even if you do not use these rules to play in the main campaign, they are suitable forsmaller and simpler campaigns involving just a few star systems and a few players generating situations that can be gamed using the various related wargame rules such asStarship Marine, Starship Strike, and Plan A.

Jim Wallman (JIM0000)2012

1. Players' Responsibilities

This is a high level political/military game designed to be played mostly by email, withoccasional face-to-face or on-line meetings for major events such as Summits or possiblebattles.

Players are responsible for: Acting in role and deciding what 'ACTIONS' to take (see below); Where dual-roled, ignoring things they would not be aware of 'in reality' Communicating with other players; Keeping track of interstellar movement and communication time delays

Keeping track of the locations of their own forces; Keeping track of their own economies and reporting to Game Control as needed; Adding to the Encyclopaedia Universalis (see www.theuniverse.org.uk )

background material as necessary.

Game Controls RoleGame Control is heavily outnumbered by players, so does not do the bulk of the gameadministration. This is left to the players (see above).

Game Controls role is mainly: Authorising 'wizard wheezes' (or disallowing them if necessary);

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http://www.theuniverse.org.uk/http://www.theuniverse.org.uk/


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Approving additional background material made up by players (who areencouraged to fill out the story themselves) that has been entered into theEncyclopaedia;

Moving on the time frame; Providing definitive background on key technologies, physical limitations and the

like;

Calculating battle results and reporting back; Plotting non-played polities and aliens moves and responses; Game Control will not usually 'police' the game - that is up to the players the

basic structure of the game depends entirely on the honour system.

2. Key Assumptions

Movement: Hyperspace Drive (HSD) is the only way of getting about theuniverse at speeds great than lightspeed, and it has been developed to itsmaximum extent.

Aliens: There are no played alien species.

Technology. There are no Wonder Weapons. What you've got is what there is.Humankind has developed pretty much everything it is going to develop inweaponry and gadgets. Don't expect to solve problems through inventing a newgadget this is disapproved of on principle in this game you are expected touse your wits to make best use of what there is.

3. Game Communications

All emails relating to the game must have the subject header containing the word'BERSWAR'

Email subject headers should also have the following words:ADMIN = the mail is about general things to do with running the campaign, rules queries.OOC = 'out of character' - all emails are assumed 'in character' unless marked otherwiseTxx = The turn number, i.e. T18 must appear on the header of all emailsQx = The quadrant number i.e. Q7 must appear on the header of all emails.

Example email headers might be:Berswar Admin Detection distances rule query

Berswar OOC Next Universe Day meetingBerswar T196 Q1 Earth Fleet Orders

4. Timing and Communications

The game moves on in nominal 'game turns' of (currently) 50 days each. These areknown as 'Octants' because there are 8 in a game year.The game turns move on regardless at a rate of roughly one octant per month.During each turn, players can communicate freely with other characters in the samequadrant. It takes one additional game turn to communicate with a neighbouring

quadrant; 2 turns for more distant quadrants.

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This delay must be built in to communication (i.e. you cannot respond to a message froma neighbouring quadrant until the following turn).

Game note: This is not strictly realistic, but I think we can make the assumption that thecharacters you are playing, and their civil servants, are used to the pressures ofcommunicating in this way, and so therefore are better at careful, well-crafted, bursts of

communications than the players are (with all due respect). A real-world month of emailconversation is therefore probably the equivalent of a couple of Universe-style diplomaticcommunications (well, we can assume that anyway).

Game Control involvement: Control will only rule on interactions: Record keeping andadministration is the players responsibility

Special CrisesIn cases of a specific crisis or war situation, Control may go to strict timing. In thesecases, all movement and communications delays (all messages travel at 2 parsecs perday) are strictly enforced and calculated to the nearest day, regardless of the game turn

structure.

5. Activities

At present everything players do fits one of the categories below.

It will help if you think in these terms, and at the outset at least,specify in which capacity you are speaking at each point. If an emailis about one of these types of activity, say so at the beginning of themail.

1. Public Debate - this is obligatory in the case of internationalsummit discussions or anything that has to be discussed by yourgovernment's representative body (legislation for example). This mustbe done using the berswarmailer and this forms the bulk of playeractivity. Public debate is only possible with player characters whoexist in the same quadrant as you, so make it very clear who you arespeaking as when using the forum.

2. Private Discussion - this can be done freely in direct email conversation.

Control must be a copy addressee to all such communications.

3. Adding to the background. From time to time you will want to fill out some of thebackground or description to your polity and its people. This is submitted by email (or inHTML form) to Control for approval and adding or linking to The Universe main site asnecessary Players are encouraged to create their own websites and/or wikis, and toupdate the Encyclopaedia Universalis wiki on the website.

4. Concluding a treaty or agreement. After 1 or 2 above, a treaty or agreement might bearrived at - this is written up by one of the signatories and sent to Control for posting onthe Treaties Page. All treaties are public, though occasionally secret causes may be

included.

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5. Economic decisions. See the economics sections of these rules. Each game yeareach polity team should produce a summary of the politys economic position, which ismade public on The Universe website. This is in the form of a Universal Economic Reportor UER. Control will provide a copy of the standard format. This should only need to bedone once a game year (i.e. once every 8 months or so subjective time) - but it must bedone.

6. Fighting a war- Players' involvement will be in terms of setting objectives forFleets/Task Forces and allocating commanders (or Key Personnel see later) andresources. Military forces are grouped into Task Forces or Fleets rather than individualships.

Control will rule on the progress of an 'operation' using the overall combat values.Control will expect orders that concentrate on rules of engagement and objectives ratherthan details of tactics (unless a player is actually present with the Fleet 'in role'). Rules ofengagement are especially important because of the communications delays playerswill not be allowed to make decisions for forces they are not co-located with.

7. Devise a wizard wheeze. Each PLAYER (even if you have several roles in thecampaign) may have only ONE wizard wheeze on the go at any one time. Control will ruleon what needs to happen depending on the wheeze, and how long it will take. So youhave to be discerning in your cleverness. Control will also help you decide whether this isactually a wizard wheeze, or just very good use of existing resources.

6. Movement, Deployment & Scouting

Movement should take account of the actual time taken to move the units including time

taken moving from the colony world to the M25 limit.A fleet will usually be based at a particular star system, and that will usually be publicinformation.When a fleet is moved players must announce it in the mailer(unless there are verygood reasons for secrecy and a concealed movement is allowed by Control). They mustalso not it on their Fleet List (see below) as soon as possible.

ScoutingSmall fleets made up of destroyers, scoutsand/or starguard are usually used for

scouting. They can visit as many systems asthey have movement to reach in a turn, andControl will report back. Alternatively, astanding patrol can be set up where shipsvisits the same systems every turn generallywe count these systems as permanentlyscouted if they are visited at least twice ayear..Control will only report back from scoutingwhen something interesting happens (like the

scouts find something or go missing). Nonews is generally good news.

Jim Wallman 2012 6

Deployments:THE FLEET LIST

At least every turn, each polity mustsend to Control a text file for thewebsite, detailing the location ofALLoftheir :their:

- Fleets/Task Forces,- Independent forces,- GF divisions,- Bases & research establishments,- Shipyards and their

- Current ship building programme.


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7. Interstellar Economics

BackgroundAll occupied star systems have been fitted into one of severalgeneralised economic categories.

In these rules there is no 'money' as such. On the planetarylevel, the main concern is the capacity of the system'seconomy to support certain types of government controlled orsponsored activity. The game ignores 'infrastructure' so thatmuch of what is going on is simply assumed to be happeningin the background without the need for player intervention.(For example management of schools, hospitals, welfare andso on).

Government activity represents a very small part of the actual planetary economy, and inThe Universe, even the most directive governments have little or no control over the

actions and economic decisions of the big interstellar corporations.

This has a knock-on effect that the interstellar economy can have an impact on the abilityof governments to maintain their internal economy, and hence keep up their forces andactivities in being. Economic down-turns tend not to affect Home Worlds as much as theydo the colonies.

This is reflected in this game by colonies (but not the Home Worlds) moving up and downin status - i.e. from Rich Colony to Above Average Colony.This normally occurs at the end of each game year (though the GM may institutechanges at other times if appropriate).

Since the players represent the various central governments, these rules will concentrateon the ability of those governments to utilise those parts of the economy over which theyhave some influence, and to spend the resources they receive in taxation.

Support Value (SV)The most important economic parameter is the Support Value or SV.

The contribution this system makes to the ability of the Government tooperate its various activities. Support values can be pooled within a

quadrant, but only a proportion of a quadrant's SV can be passed toother quadrants or sectors.

Since SV is a measure of economic capacity, it cannot be carried overfrom year to year and it should not be thought of as money.

The support value can be passed to another polity within the samequadrant in the same year, if this agreed by treaty.

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The Economic Categories

Category Support ValueTypical

population(M)

Features

Home Worlds

Variable

generally 100+ 500+

Has well developed industries, many orbital and off-worldfacilities and lots of HSTS. Shipbuilding facilities can bebased here. Tend to be very stable economically.

They have 2 squadrons of pacifiers (included in theirinfrastructure and therefore free).There is also a space detection network.

ColonialCapital (CC)

80 100+ Has many orbital facilities, many HSTS and can supportshipyards. They have 2 squadrons of pacifiers included intheir infrastructure. There is also a space detectionnetwork.

Very RichColony (VR)

60 50+ Has several orbital facilities and can support shipyards. 3 or 4 HSTS. They have one squadron of pacifiers included intheir infrastructure. There is also a space detectionnetwork.

Rich Colony

(RC)

40 20+ Has 1 or 2 orbital facilities and 1 or 2 HSTS. They have one

squadron of pacifiers included in their infrastructure.AboveAverageColony (AA)

30


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all factored in to the Support Value concept.So a certain number of built-in shipyards and training centres and the like are notseparately accounted for.Additional shipyards and training centres, above the baseline infrastructure are accountedfor.

All quadrants have a repair capacity, usually located at the quadrant capital.In addition, fleets cannot operate effectively if there is insufficient SV in the quadrant tosupport them logistically.This can mean that surplus SV is imported from nearby quadrants to support particularoperations. (See Section 10: Interstellar Banking)

Abbrev ItemSV

required

Time tobuild(days)

Logsneeded

Logssupport

Combatvalue (1)

Notes

INFRASTRUCTURE

Colonial Government - percolony world under control

including capital

3 each 100 n.a. n.a. n.a.

There are a whole range of supportcosts involved in running a colonialgovernment. This is obviously

proportional to the number of worlds.

HQ Senior Headquarters 2 50 n.a. n.a. n.a.

National Fleet headquarters areassumed. These are new jointcommands or special command andcontrol arrangements

SBHEWS

Surface Based HeavyEnergy WeaponSystem

2 300 n.a. n.a. n.a.

An array of weapons capable ofengaging ships in low orbit, orconducting an assault landing. Generallyonly useful for point defence.

Specialised Researchand DevelopmentEstablishment

4 400 n.a. n.a. n.a.You already have some R&D built intothe infrastructure - this is if you want todo something you haven't done before.

Shipyard 10 - 20 400 n.a. n.a. n.a.

Allows for 2 ships under construction atany one time. Can be used as a repairyard if not being used for new builds.(See Section 9)

Repair Yard 5 300 n.a. n.a. n.a.Allows for the repair of 3 ships at anyone time.

Extra InterstellarCommunications

1 200 n.a. n.a. n.a.Each additional HSTS over the numbersassumed in a system of the appropriatetype.

SDNSpace DetectionNetwork

4 100 n.a. n.a. n.a.Substantially enhances the system'sability to detect incoming ships

STARSHIP MAINTENANCE

- Routine Maintenance Free Variable n.a. n.a. n.a.

This is included in the support valueassumptions. Currently, for simplicity, itis assumed that ships are always

available; i.e. never in maintenance- Ship Conversion

As newtype

Variable n.a. n.a. n.a.Conversions can take place either at ashipyard OR repair yard.

- Repairs Free Variable n.a. n.a. n.a.This is included in the support valueassumptions. See ship repair rulesbelow.

- 'X' Class shipmodification

+2 +200 0 0 x

All ship classes may be made intoextended range 'X' Class long rangeships independent of logistics formissions of up to 5 years. There is areduction in weaponry and othercapabilities as a trade-off for space. Thefit is of superior quality to reducemaintenance requirements.

MILITARY VESSELSSC IP Scout 1 200 2 0 1

Light vessel optimised for detection,(may be converted to/from DD)

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Abbrev ItemSV

required

Time tobuild(days)

Logsneeded

Logssupport

Combatvalue (1)

Notes

SCI IS Scout 2 400 2 0 1Light vessel optimised for detection,(may be converted to/from DDI)

DD IP Destroyer 1 200 2 0 3

DDI IS Destroyer 2 400 2 0 3

CL IP Light Cruiser 2 200 3 0 5

CLI IS Light Cruiser 3 400 3 0 5

CA IP Heavy Cruiser 3 200 4 0 8

CAI IS Heavy Cruiser 4 400 4 0 8

HBB IP Heavy Battleship 6 600 7 0 20 Can only be interplanetary due to its size

BV IP Battle Carrier 8 600 10 0 30 Can only be interplanetary due to its size

BB IP Battleship 4 200 5 0 12

BBI IS Battleship 6 600 5 0 12

CV IP Carrier 4 300 6 0 17

CVI IS Carrier 6 600 6 0 17

SAB IP Semi-Automatic

Battleship 3 400 6 0 13 Can only operate with an LSSI dedicatedto each SAB.SABI IS Semi-Automatic

Battleship5 800 6 0 13

TPT IP Transport 2 200 8 0 0

TPTI IS Transport 3 400 8 0 0

ALS IP Assault LandingShip

3 200 7 0 2

ALSIIS Assault LandingShip

5 500 7 0 2

AVI IS Assault Carrier 5 500 7 0 4

MA IP Marine AssaultShip

3 200 5 0 3Specialist ship for launching marineshuttle assaults in a space battleMAI IS Marine Assault

Ship5 400 5 0 3

SPYI IS Spy Ship3 400 1 0 0

A ship optimised for detection anddesigned to sit for long periods hiddenon the M25 observing a system.

MSDI IS Mobile Space Dock 5 400 8 0 0These operate in pairs to provide a basicrepair facility that can move with a fleet.

LSS IP Logistic SupportShip

2 200 1 30 0

LSSI IS Logistic SupportShip

3 300 1 30 0

SVI IS Support Carrier 3 300 3 0 3

MPSI IS 'Swarm' MultiplePacifier Ship 10 400 24 0 40A large 'one shot pacifier' carrier.

MPSIP 'Swarm' MultiplePacifier Ship

6 200 24 0 40

MMPSIIS Merchant MultiplePacifier Ship

8 400 16 0 25 Converted Class 5000

SSI IS Survey Ship 6 400 1 1 2

C5A Armed Class 5000Merchant (StarGuard)

1

200 newbuild or

50upgrade

1 8 1

These are widespread as protectionagainst pirates. Usually locally basedand organised.

EVI

Merchant Escort

Carrier 2

250 newbuild or

100upgrade

2 0 2

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Abbrev ItemSV

required

Time tobuild(days)

Logsneeded

Logssupport

Combatvalue (1)

Notes

IMR Independent MarineRegiment or SpecialForces Regiment

1 200 n.a. n.a. n.a.

Ships and stations are assumed to havetheir own regiments included in theirsupport values.

MDI Mass Driver Ship

2 200 1 0 0

Carries a drive unit, shuttles andengineering crew sufficient to move one

asteroid. Needs to return to a shipyard toreplenish between missions. Note: Massdriving against human-occupied

planets is illegal under interstellarlaw.

IPS Independent PacifierSquadron

1 100 n.a. 0 10

Carriers are assumed to have theircomplement included in their cost. OneSquadron of defensive pacifiers areassumed attached to all orbital stationsare included in their support values.

PLANETSIDE FORCES

GFD Regular Ground

Force Division

3 200 n.a. n.a. (11)Fully equipped for ground combat andcapable of transport between planets.

GFB Independent GroundForce Brigade

2 150 n.a. n.a. (5)Fully equipped for ground combat andcapable of transport between planets.

PGD Planet Guard Division 2 200 n.a. n.a. (7)Locally recruited troops; cannot bemoved off-planet

ISD Police / InternalSecurity Division

3 300 n.a. n.a. (5)Especially good for dealing withinsurrection and civil policing.

MD Militia GF Division 1 100 n.a. n.a. (3)Lightly armed local troops, possibly part-timers: cannot be moved off-planet

MGD Marine GF Division 20 200 n.a. n.a. (30)A standard GF division manned byStarship Marine-quality personnel.

MGB Marine GF Brigade 12 150 n.a. n.a. (14)A standard GF brigade manned byStarship Marine-quality personnel.

CIVILIAN VESSELS

C5 Class 5000 MerchantShip 0.5 200 1 15 0

Note: Smaller classes (C100 C4000)are not separately represented here forsimplicity.

CSSI IS Colonial SupportShip

4 400 1 15 0

Ship designed specifically for supportingcolonial development. Converts to smallorbital at the end of its life and isabsorbed into the infrastructure of thecolony it has helped form, and ceases toexist.

SLI Interstellar SleeperShip

3 400 1 0 0Carries 5,000 people in sleep units.

Around 1% failure rate.

HSI Hospital Ship 5 500 7 0 0 Aids recovery of wounded etc for a fleet.

AMI Armed Merchant 3 300 3 10 4Purpose built heavily armed merchant

SRI Salvage & RecoveryShip

3 300 3 0 0Used to dismantle and salvage allmanner of equipment.

SPI Police Ship

5 400 0 0 0

Mobile police station with police officers,detectives, SWAT, CSI teams, specialistkit and labs for those worlds that do nothave them.

CPK Packet Ship

1 400 1 0 0

A civilian interstellar merchant shipoptimised for 2G operation. These areused by a few large corporations formoving high value items (or personnel)that need to be moved urgently. A packetship can reduce a transit from the M25to the colony world by a number of days.However only very high value cargo

justify the expense of using a packetship.

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Abbrev ItemSV

required

Time tobuild(days)

Logsneeded

Logssupport

Combatvalue (1)

Notes

SPECIALISED RESEARCH TEAMS

FT Field Team2

Mobile team of experienced investigators able to turn up and assess, packageand recover key items - or recommend deployment of more resources asappropriate. Comes with own leased merchant ships.

MIT Major Investigation

Team

3A large mobile team - bigger and more capable version of the Field Team. Comeswith own leased merchant ships

LRE Local ResearchEstablishment

4200 todeploy

Permanent staff on world, with buildings, labs, transport etc. For longterm major work. Takes 200 days to deploy. Doesn't need ships

COLONIAL UPGRADES

SNBC Shake N' BakeColony - inestablished quadrant

25

100prep +

600 onworld

4 x LSSIor 2 x

CSSI forduration

n.a. 0

Government directly priming a world forcolonisation. Counts as SubsistenceColony after it has been completed andfully operational for 1 year - and the SVcost ceases and it continues as a normal

colony.Remote = greater than 1HY distant.SNBC Shake N' BakeColony - in Outer

Sector

40 (providedneighbourin

g Q canhandle it)

250 prep+ 800 on

world

8 x LSSIor 4 x

CSSI forduration

n.a. (1)

SNBCR Shake N' BakeColony - Remote

20 in Q0 forduration,including

transit

800 onworld

8 x CSSIfor

durationn.a. (1)

SCol Science Colony -Quadrant 6

50 prep +300 onworld

1 X LSSIfor

duration10 0

A self-contained scientific colony, set upby government.This does not upgrade to a propercolony, though one might start normally.Requires 1 LSSI visit per yearRemote = greater than 1HY distant.

SCol Science Colony -Outer Sector

10 (providedneighbourin

g Q canhandle it)

100 prep+ 400 on

world

2 x LSSIor 1 x

CSSI forduration

10 (1)

SColR Science Colony -Remote

5 in Q0 forduration, ,including

transit

400 onworld

2 CSSIfor

duration10 (1)

MilCol Military Colony -Quadrant 8

100 prep+ 400 on

world

2 x LSSIor 1 CSSI

forduration

30 (2)

A self-contained military colony set up bygovernment.

This does not upgrade to a propercolony.Requires 2 LSSI visits per year.Remote = greater than 1HY distant.

MilCol Military Colony Outer Sector

15 (provideda

neighbouring Q can

handle it)

200 prep+ 600 on

world

4 x LSSIor 2 x

CSSI forduration

30 (4)

MilColR Military Colony

Remote

8 in Q0 for

duration,including

transit

600 onworld

4 x CSSIfor

duration30 (4)

(1) Combat values in brackets are values for fighting planetside.

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9. Ship Building Capacity

General

The cost of a shipyard depends on the economy of the world it orbits. Operating the yardat a poorer world is more expensive in terms of SV.

World Economy Cost to build / maintain shipyard

Rich (RC) or above 10 SV

Average (AA, AC or BA) 15 SV

Poor (PC or VP) 20 SV

Subsistence (SC) or below Not allowed

Once a system grows to Rich the shipyard cost reverts to 10SV and does not alter again,even if the colony drops - unless it drops below Poor, whereupon the yard becomes

unsustainable and must be dismantled.

Construction of new ships requires spare shipbuilding capacity: much of a politysshipyard space is taken up with maintenance and refits or is not controlled by thegovernment.Without expending SV, each polity has only one free shipyard not already tied inmaintaining the current fleet.Most polities fund additional shipyards, at the rate shown in the SV table above. Theadditional yards also allow for the ongoing maintenance of the new ships built.For the purposes of shipyard capacity, the construction of an Independent PacifierSquadron counts as a single shipWhen working out the cost of shipbuilding, count the SV requirement for the ship from themoment it is laid down in the shipyard (not from the moment it is launched). This reflectsthe construction costs, fresh crew training etc.

Mothballs

Ships can be mothballed and stored in stable orbit at any colony that is Average or better(they have the facilities to keep the mothballed ships monitored and safe. Mothballingdoes not cost SV, but takes 50 days (during which time the normal SV of the ship is stillpayable). Bringing ships out of mothballs takes 100 days, and the full SV must be paid

for the entire period of recommissioning.A shipyard or repair yard can be mothballed too. The mothballing does not cost extra SV,but takes 50 days during which time the normal SV of the yard must be paid. Bringing ayard out of mothballs takes 200 days, and the full SV must be paid during the period ofrecommissioning.

Decommissioning

Ships can be scrapped at any time at any colony that is Rich or better (they have thenecessary economy and facilities to decommission a military ship), or at any system witha repair yard. It takes 50 days to decommission a ship in this way, during which time the

full SV must continue to be paid.

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Using Repair Yards

A repair yard can be used to arm merchant ships and to buildadditional pacifiers. Building pacifiers is limited due to availabilityof pilots and weapons. No repair yard can build more than 1squadron (16 pacifiers) per year per yard (this allows for crew

training etc). The repair yard is also used to repair damagedships (obviously).A repair yard cannot be used to build ships. See also ShipRepair, Maintenance and Upgrade below.

Conversion: Existing IP ships can be converted to IS. To do this takes a shipyard slot,the difference in SV must be available for the duration of the conversion, and it takes thedifference in construction time between the IP and IS class, PLUS 50 days.

FlatpackingAny Interplanetary spaceship can be built in a prefabricated form and shipped as

components and re-assembled at another star system.

The receiving system must be Below Average or higher to have the necessary supportingorbital services. There is no additional SV cost for the process, above the cost of thevessel itself for the duration of build, transit and assembly.

Ship ClassNumber of

C5000 loadsrequired

Assembly time in target system

No yardRepair yard

availableShipyardavailable

BB / CV / SAB 7 200 100 50

HBB / BV 12 300 200 100

ALS / CA / LSS / MPS 4 120 60 30

CL / DD / SC 2 40 20 10

Civilian ShipbuildingThere are a large number of major civilian shipbuilding companies in the Universe.Typically there are two or more corporately-owned yards at each policy homeworld (thecurrent list is maintained on the campaign website). These yards mainly producemerchant ships for the wider economy to replace aging shipping coming to the end of its

life.

On occasions, players can ask these yards to produce military shipping instead, thoughthey will have to wait until a slot appears on a slipway before work can commence. Someshipbuilders, where permitted by local legislation, will manufacture military warships on aprivate venture basis for hire out to independent worlds or small alliances which canafford to have their own shipbuilding industry.A list of commercially hired warships (and warships for hire) is maintained on the website.Commercially hired warships have the same characteristics as government-built ships,and they are crewed by mercenaries (all of whom will have served in a national navy atsome point). As mercenaries, their willingness to die for their employer is lower than one

would typically see in national navies.

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10. Interstellar Banking

At the level we are considering planetary economics inthese rules the resources are expressed in terms ofmanpower, skills, technology, refined materials andindustrial capacity.

Only a small proportion of this is in transferable cashterms, and even then, there are limits on howsuccessfully a cash credit transfer to a backward colonywould aid its economy if it lacked the basic resourcesitself.

As mentioned above, polities can pool the SV within aquadrant/sector, but can only transfer up to 10% of the SV of that pool to any adjacentquadrant/sector, or 5% to a more distant quadrant/sector.

NB: The 10% limit is per transfer per quadrant/sector so you could transfer 10% to each

of several quadrants/sectors.

In addition, importable SV may not be more than 24SV or 50% (whichever is greater) ofthe total starting local SV already in the receiving quadrant/sector before any transfers.So, for example, a quadrant with a total starting SV of 80 would only be able to import upto 40SV in transfers from all sources.A sector with 10SV could import up to 24SV.

The level of transfer between quadrants/sectors is reviewed quarterly (i.e. every 100days) and is changed at that point only.This represents the lead-time to organising and maintaining these interstellar transfers ofresources.

Economic DevelopmentColonies normally develop as a result of trade, the effectiveness ofthe colonists, corporate investment, and government investment.

It is not possible to just buy an upgrade of a colony using SV though SV could be deployed to improve infrastructure. Theproblem is that if you subsidise an economy, you have to keep onsubsidising it and this would not generate additional SV.

However, SV can be used to prime the pump of inward investment.This is risky, since it can fail, and the return (if any) may be longterm.

Also, colonies can rise or decline as a result of factors outside yourcontrol. At the start of any year, there should be a status test for allcolonies (See Section 11).

Investment of SV in developing an economy is on the basis of a fullyear of investment. SV only used for periods of less than a year are

reduced in proportion.

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11. Colony Status Test

This is done each game year using the updater program. However, it could be donemanually, and the program implements the manual rules described below.

Roll 1d10 (0=0) once per year

Current Status

Effect ofGovernment

SVInvestmentduring last

year

Max SVinvestmentallowed per

year

Resultin Chan e in Status

Decline onelevel

No changeImprove one

level

CC Colonial Capital +1 per 20 40 0 1+ n.a.

VR Very Rich Colony +1 per 18 36 0-1 2-10 11+

RC Rich Colony +1 per 15 30 0-1 2-9 10+

AA Above Average

Colony

+1 per 12 24 0-2 3-9 10+

AC Average Colony +1 per 10 20 0-1 2-8 9+

BA Below AverageColony

+1 per 8 16 0 1-7 8+

PC Poor Colony +1 per 5 10 0-2 3-7 8+

VP Very Poor Colony +1 per 3 6 0 1-7 8+

SC Subsistence Colony +1 per 2 4 0-3 4-7 8+

JS Just Settled +1 per SV 2 0-4 5 6+

UI Uncolonised / Empty - 0 - 0-5 6+

Independent worlds cannot develop beyondAverage on their own. They have to join a majorpower (see Membership, below), or form apolitico-economic federation with at least 6 otherindependents to do so.

It is possible for there to be more than one colonyon a world atAbove Average or less. Richcolonies must be unitary worlds in order to qualifyas Rich.If the system has had ships taken up from trade

(STUFT) in it then this will impact on colonialtrade: 1 from the die roll.

Game Control will also apply arbitrary pluses and minuses to the improvement roll toreflect political and economic circumstances on individual worlds or even on a quadrant-wide basis. As shown in the table above, worlds economies can decline as well asimprove.

Investment helps prevent this, but other factors will encourage it. See below, underinternal politics for some of the other influencing factors. Any colony attacked and forcibly

taken under control by a polity will automatically decline one economic level.

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In theory a world could be elevated to Home World level, but this is exceptional. Once atHome World level the economy is stable and does not alter very much in any given year,unless as a result of some huge upheaval or political change.

Uncolonised, Just Settled and Subsistence Colonies gain a +1 on the table if they aregiven a Colony Support Ship (CSSI) for a year. The CSSI is consumed and integrated in

the colony at the end of the year.

12. Insufficient SV

There may be times when the SV of a quadrant is not enough to support all the activitiesgoing on in that quadrant. This can, of course, be ameliorated by transfers in but eventhat may not be enough, or might not be able to respond to a short term crisis.

Fleets may be moved across quadrant boundaries in hot pursuit without using visitedquadrants SV the so long as they return to their home quadrant within 50 days. Over 50

days and they have to be supported by the quadrant they are visiting.

Quadrants that go into the red on SV must cease economic investment until balance hasbeen achieved.

If this is not enough, and no forces can be disbanded or mothballed to restore thebalance, then the following penalties apply:

Each of the politys systems in the quadrant reduces its system loyalty by 1 forevery SV per system for every quarter it is overdrawn. So a nation with 6 colonyworlds, that was 6SV in the red for a year, would reduce each colony worldsloyalty by 4.

The forces supported in the quadrant will lose effectiveness due to shortages in

the logistic train they should be treated as though they are one supply level lowerthan their current state (so if they are at supply state GREEN, they drop toAMBER).

13. Membership of Polities

At various times, independent worlds consider joining anexisting interstellar polity. Sometimes this happens as aresult of internal needs (see economic developmentabove) or as a result of pressure from one or moreexternal polities.

The process is influenced by investment, location, situationand a substantial random element.

In game terms, a player team may request that an independent is tested. The process isthen as follows:

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1. Initial Interest. The locals may have absolutely no interest whatsoever. Roll 1d6,modified as follows: This can only be tested once per year.

+1 Nearest system is a member of requesting polity

+1The system is currently being invested in by testingpolity

+1 The system is in Q5, Q6 or Q7+1 The system is at Average Status

-2 The system is in Q0

+1 System has been fought over in the last year

+3 to 3 JIM0000 Assessment Modifier

Score 6 to get acceptance to the principle. If the principle is accepted, move on to:

2. Referendum Stage. Internal politics come to bear here and there is a much largerrandom element. This might also be competitive with other polities. The locals will decide

to hold a referendum this is organised locally, and interested parties cannot be involved.Only one referendum per year can be organised, and it will be held 1d4 x 100 days afterthe principle has been agreed.

So, to determine the result, roll 1d100 for each interested party this will be each polityattempting to get them to join, plus the NO Party. The nearest neighbouring polity willalso automatically be included in the vote by the locals, whether they want to be or not.

Each partys score is modified by:

+1For each SV from investment per year, averaged over the past threeyears.

+10 For a successful political manoeuvre+10 to 10 JIM0000 Interference Modifier

The highest score wins

This system means that occasionally, systems will choose to join a polity unexpectedly.Polities do not have to accept them into membership if they do not want to.

[Game Note: The above system may be dispensed with as necessary utterly atJIM0000s whim, if it benefits the plot]

14. Key Personnel

In every polity there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions ofcivil servants, military officers, leaders, scientists etc. These aredeployed to run your polity in a variety of roles, such as quadrantor planetary governors, admirals, senior diplomats etc.These non-played characters are expected to act on their owninitiative and reasonably effectively all of the time. Distances andcommunication delays make that imperative.

Each polity also has, within this group of public servants, its key

people (KP). These are the most reliable, most effective, best of

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your polity. And, of course, they are limited in number. Their deployment should be animportant part of the governments decision-making.

We mark the effectiveness of KP with a personal score, on a scale of 1 to 10. The vastmajority of your senior public servants are rated 5. This means that they will act prettymuch in the way the players would have expected (or better) around 50% of the time. The

rest of the time they will do something different (and still effective, perhaps), or donothing.

The important KP are those with scores above 5. These are limited in number and mustbe specific named individuals. The number of KP better than 5 in each polity is based ontheir population. Most polities get 1 KP for every billion of population except Earth whichhas only 1 KP per 2 billion.

The ratio of each level of KP is fixed, as follows

KP RatingMax Number per

polity10 1

9 2

8 4

7 8

6 16

5 Unlimited

So, for example, a polity that is allowed only 5 important KPs would have one 10, two 9sand two 8s.

If a named KP dies then a new person can be created to replace them, but, their rating isunknown until they have been given a job to do and they have been doing it for sometime. The GM will then tell you what their rating is.

15. Ground Force Units

Specialised all-arms Ground Force Divisions are used primarily fordefence of the surface of systems against civil disorder, invasion orpirate attacks. Full scale invasion of other worlds is rare because

space superiority tends to decide the issue if you control orbitaland sub-orbital space a GF division or two are pretty much sittingtargets, and tend to surrender.

However, raiding and or insurrection are both more common, andthis is where GF Divisions are most useful.

Police and paramilitary forces are normally factored into the SV,however it is possible to purchase other unit types such as InternalSecurity Divisions, Planet Guard Divisions and Militia Divisions.(See Section 8: The Shopping List).

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GF vs GF combat can be handled using the 'Plan A' wargame rules or the outcome isruled on by Control.

16. Starships and Spaceships

Definitions:

STARSHIP = Any ship capable of interstellar travel.SPACESHIP = Any ship limited to interplanetary travel only.

Breakdowns

Ships are assumed to have majoroverhauls throughout their operating lives the SV includes the cost of this, thoughwe will not be tracking all ships movingabout and returning to base for refit. This

will be taken account of if it becomesnecessary. Typically a ship will need a refitevery 4-5 years,

Detection

The table below assumes that the system has an orbital with a standard space trafficcontrol system and that the ship concerned is burning (which most ships have to do ifthey want to get anywhere in a reasonable time). Note that ships entering or leavinghyperspace cannot be detected until they burn: there is no residual radiation or energypulse generated by the operation of the HD Drive.

This test is made when ships are burning within a system. Roll 1d10 (0=0) to determinethe range at which the ship will be detected.

Die score Distance (AU)

9+ 150

8 100

7 50

6 25

5 20

4 15

3 10

Up to 2 5

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Ship Type Ship Burn Size

Heavy Battleship, Battleship, Carrier, ALS, Transport, Log ship, Support Carrier, AssaultCarrier, Exterminator VIKING, Exterminator Super Battleship, Exterminator OrbitalFortress, Sleeper, MDI, Police Ship, Scout/Destroyer at 2g

Big

Heavy Cruiser, Star Guard, Escort Carrier, Corporate Raider, Class 5000, Scout/Destroyer/ Lt Cruiser at 1.5g

Medium

Class 3000, Scout/ Destroyer/ Lt Cruiser at 1g, Independent Pacifier Sqn Small

Factors add/subtract from die roll

Military ship detecting another ship -2

Scout ship detecting another ship +2

Survey ship detecting another ship +0

Civilian ship detecting another ship -6

Civilian ship with sensor pack detectinganother ship (e.g. C1-S)

-4

Target Medium Burn -1

Target Small Burn -2

Fleet size (for each ship after the first) +1

Target making less than 0.1g burn -3

System with Space Detection Net +3

A target silent running is invisible until it burns, or gets within a few thousand km.

Logistics SupportStarships operate for many hundreds of days in deep space, away from bases, repairyards and orbital stations.

All ships have larger crews than is strictly necessary to operate the ships because theyneed to be able to cope with illness and accident, and have sufficient resources tomaintain their own ship a lot of the time.

In addition, in the absence of magical replicator technology, they need to be resuppliedwith food concentrates and spares, ammo etc. Reaction mass and water is collectedfrom systems when they are visited (see 'Refuelling time' below).

These supplies are carried by the ubiquitous Logistics Support Ship Interstellar (LSSI) orby merchant cargo ships.

All functioning fleets need these to keep operating effectively.

Some will be in transit from bases to fleet, or on long-range missions, a fleet will take anumber of laden LSSIs with them, which then rotate with others to keep the suppliescoming.

Use the following rule of thumb to assess the logistic needs of any force.

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First, assess its need this is calculated on a Logs Point basis add up the points forany force and compare them with the Logs Support Capacity available to the force.

The main list of logs points needed and capacity is in the shopping listabove.

This table has the values for a few things not listed there:

Ship Type DesignationLogs Need

PointsLogs

Support Capacity

STUFT* Class 5000 C5 1 15

STUFT Class 4000 C4 1 12

STUFT Class 3000 C3 1 10

STUFT Class 2000 C2 0.5 6

STUFT Class 1000 C1 0.5 3

SNB Colony SNBC 0 5

Science Colony SCICOL 0 10

Military Colony MCOL 0 30

Just Settled Colony facilities JSF 0 2

Subsistence Colony facilities SCF 0 5

Very Poor / Poor Colony OrbitalFacilities

PCOF 0 30

Below Average Colony Orbital Facilities BAOF 0 50

Average or Above Average ColonyOrbital Facilities

ACOF 0 100

Rich Colony or Very RichOrbital Facilities

RCOF 0 500

Colonial Capital Orbital Facilities CCOF 0 1000Home World Orbital Facilities HWOF 0 Unlimited* STUFT = Ship Taken Up From Trade (merchant ship commandeered in an emergency)

Status GREEN: If the Logs support equals or exceeds the Logs Point needs of a fleet,then all is well, and we assume the logistic state is good.

Status AMBER: If the Logs support is less than the fleet's needs, the effectiveness of thefleet is assumed to be degraded.

Status RED: If the Logs support is less than half the fleet's needs, you can assume the

fleet has serious supply problems, and really ought to visit an orbital station quite soon.In the case of fleets sitting on an M25 limit of an inhabited friendly colonial system with anorbital station (as they often are), you can effectively double the value of the LSSIsaccompanying the fleet because they can visit the system's station every few days.Obviously, if the fleet moves off suddenly, there is a risk that they might leave some or allof their LSSIs behind.Self Sustaining FleetsIt is possible for a fleet to be independent of local SV requirements. In order to achievethis it must have sufficient logistics support ships to have a logs ratio of 10 (i.e. 10 timesits normal logistics need). The SV still have to be paid somewhere (usually Quadrant 0),

but the fleet can operate indefinitely in an adjacent quadrant without that quadrant havingto use up its SV.

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Refuelling timeShips do not consume fuel as such, but they do require reaction mass for the mainthrusters. The larger or the faster the ship, the more mass it will need. In game terms thecost of acquiring the mass (which is usually water from ice asteroids) is subsumed withinthe SV cost. The main factor is time to pump it into the reaction mass tanks. So,

whenever a ship visits a system's colony world there is a delay for RM pumping, asfollows:

Ship size

Friendly or Neutral System Unfriendly System Just settled,Uninhabited

system or awayfrom colony

world

Below Average(BA) or better

Poor, Very Pooror Subsistence

Below Average(BA) or better

Poor, Very Pooror Subsistence

Battleship, Carrier,Transport, Assaultlanding ship C5000

2 days 4 days 5 days 7 days 8 days

Heavy Cruiser,C4000 2 days 3 days 4 days 6 days 8 days

Light Cruiser,C3000

2 days 2 days 3 days 5 days 7 days

Destroyer, C2000 1 day 2 days 2 days 4 days 6 days

C1000 1 day 1 day 2 days 3 days 5 days

17. Space Combat

In the event of space combat the Starship Strikewargame rules will be used.

If this is not practicable, use the combat power figuresgiven in the 'shopping list' table above to calculate thetotal combat power for each fleet engaged.

Logistics modifiers:Status GREEN: (LOGS FACTOR >=1): 100% CVeffectiveStatus AMBER: (LOGS FACTOR


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Comparison Result Losses

Winner takes 5% of loser's CV

31-40% superiority Weaker force breaks contact and flees.Stronger force able to inflict damage asthey go.

Loser takes 25% of winner's CVWinner takes 5% of loser's CV

Over 40%superiority

No combat - weaker force refuses battle. n.a.

The above table is for human v human battles. Vs Exterminators or other aliens the rules will be differentsometimes.

18. Ship Repair, Maintenance & Upgrade

RepairThe main naval shipbuilding yards are in the Home Systems in Quadrant 0.However, there is at least one repair-only yard, usually located at the Provincial Capital,(although not always).

Repair yards will repair a battle damaged warship at a rate of 5 days per hull valuelost (see Starship Strike Rules). Weapon and other systems are assumed to berepaired concurrently. Each of these repair yards can work on up to 3 ships at atime.

A mobile space dock (i.e. a pair of MSDI) can carry out major ship repairs also. They take10 days per hull value repaired. Each MSDI pair can handle two ships at a time.The above assume that there are no shortages of critical parts or trained crews. In theevent of very heavy losses, it might prove more difficult to repair ships and JIM0000 willadvise if this is so.

Class Upgrades / ChangesRepair yards can do limited class conversions.

1. Arming MerchantsConverting merchants to armed merchant and/or escort carriers (STUFT).Arming STUFT merchants is possible, but will take 10 days times the class number. So aClass 1000 takes 10 days, a class 5000 takes 50 daysThere is an enhanced version of the armed merchant - 'CxA-E', with more room formarines, and slightly more armament.These take a further 40 days to upgrade from standard armed merchant.Class 5000 merchants can be converted to Escort Carriers (EVI), carrying 4 one-shot

pacifiers. This takes 60 days.2. LSSIs into Support Carriers (SVI).It takes 20 days to convert an LSSI into a SVI.

3. Assault Landing Ships can be converted to carry pacifiers.Classification - Assault CarrierAVIAn ALSI is set up to manage shuttle loading and turn around, so would have the capacityto manage limited pacifer operations as standard. ALSI and ALS can off-load theirshuttles and operate 3 pacifiers instead. The off-load process takes 10 days.With conversion at a repair yard they can handle 5 pacifiers (but must give up ALS

function to do so). This conversion takes 25 daysIn either configuration they can recover/launch up to 2 pacifiers in combat conditions.

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STARSHIP STRIK E STARSHIP STRIK E STARSHIP STRIK E



Point Defence : 3 Missile shoot down

Damage Control FAILED

Intercept CSP = 2 intercept (1 if OSP)

Close-In CSP = 3 intercept (2 if OSP)

Intercept fails to stop enemy

Anti-Pacifier Fire = MISSH





































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Starship Strike Complete

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Transcript of Starship Strike Complete